Analysts Set El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) PT at $14.88

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $14.8750.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Benchmark increased their price target on shares of El Pollo Loco from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Freedom Capital raised shares of El Pollo Loco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of El Pollo Loco from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of El Pollo Loco in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th.

El Pollo Loco Stock Performance

Shares of LOCO opened at $16.43 on Friday. El Pollo Loco has a 12-month low of $8.98 and a 12-month high of $17.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $500.29 million, a PE ratio of 16.77 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $14.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.94.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The restaurant operator reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $126.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $122.02 million. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 5.87% and a return on equity of 11.04%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that El Pollo Loco will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

El Pollo Loco announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 28th that permits the company to buyback $40.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari sold 132,421 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.27, for a total transaction of $2,286,910.67. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,644,979 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,948,787.33. This represents a 3.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 364,546 shares of company stock valued at $6,163,240. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of El Pollo Loco

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in El Pollo Loco by 97.4% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 301,505 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,114,000 after acquiring an additional 148,738 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco by 15.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 247,098 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,425,000 after acquiring an additional 33,195 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 74.2% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 58,509 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $811,000 after purchasing an additional 24,923 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of El Pollo Loco by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 110,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,534,000 after purchasing an additional 895 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of El Pollo Loco by 203.8% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 635,468 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,808,000 after purchasing an additional 426,320 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

El Pollo Loco Company Profile

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ: LOCO) is a fast-casual restaurant chain specializing in Mexican-style fire-grilled chicken and complementary menu offerings. The company’s signature product is its marinated, flame-grilled chicken, which is prepared in an open-flame rotisserie and served in a variety of formats including tacos, burritos, bowls and salads. In addition to its core chicken offerings, El Pollo Loco menu items feature fresh-made salsas, guacamole, sides such as charro beans and fresh tortillas, as well as a selection of beverages and desserts.

Founded in 1975 in Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico, by Juan Francisco Ochoa, the concept expanded into the United States in 1980 with its first U.S.